Hello! Learning about human cognition is indeed fascinating. While humans like to believe that they are rational and logical, the fact is that on a daily basis people are continuously under the influence of cognitive biases, mental or psychological phenomena that distort thinking, sway beliefs or decision, and influence their decisions that lead to poor choices. Some of the most cognitive biases are given below.
- Confirmation Bias: the tendency to listen more often to information that confirms our existing beliefs. In other words, people tend to favor information that reinforces the things they already know or believe, refusing the opposing side. Some examples: following social media that you only like, choosing news sources that present stories that support your views, etc. Why is this happening? Perhaps it fuels the ego-centric satisfaction, it also protects self-esteem by making people feel that their beliefs are accurate.
- Hindsight Bias: the tendency to see events, even random ones, as more predictable than they are. Sometimes, it is also commonly referred to as the "I knew it all along" phenomenon. Some examples: you claim to know who will win the Election or World Cup, or what the exam answers are, after these events are just over. This bias occurs can be due to the tendency to view events as inevitable, and our tendency to believe we could have foreseen certain events. The effect of this bias is that it causes us to overestimate our ability to predict events.
- Anchoring Bias: the tendency to be overly influenced by the first piece of information that we hear or see, taking it as the final truth. Some examples: the first price produced during a price negotiation, or doctors can be susceptible to first impressions when diagnosing patients. Why does this bias occur? Perhaps the source of the information plays an influential role. Other factors such as priming and mood also appear to have an influence.
- Misinformation Effect: the tendency for our memories to be heavily influenced by things that happened after the actual event itself. For example: a person who witnesses a car accident or crime could believe that their recollection is crystal clear. But studies have shown that simply asking questions emphasizing some keywords, or letting them watching a misguided video about an event can change someone's memories of what actually happened. This bias may occur because of interference, new information may get mixed with older memories.
- Actor-observer Bias: The actor-observer bias is the tendency to attribute our actions to external influences and other people's actions to internal ones. When it comes to our own actions, we are often far too likely to attribute things to external influences. For example: You argued that the reason for missing an important meeting is because of a jet lag, or you failed an exam because the teacher posed too many trick questions. Conversely, however, when a colleague screwed up an important presentation we say it's because he’s lazy and incompetent (not because he also had a jet lag); when a friend failed a test, it happens because they lack diligence and intelligence (and not because they took the same test as you with all those trick questions). Our reasoning and perspective play a key role in forming this bias.
- False-Consensus Effect: the tendency people have to overestimate how much other people agree with their own beliefs, behaviors, attitudes, and values. For example: one may think that other people (friends and family members) share your opinion on controversial topics, or believing that the majority of people share your preferences. Why is this? We tend to generalize by thinking that the amount of times spent together make us easy to think the views of others conform with our own. This bias cause us to overvalue own opinions. It also means that we sometimes don't consider how other people might feel when making choices.
- Halo Effect: the tendency for an initial impression of a person to influence what we think of that person overall. It is also known as the "physical attractiveness stereotype". Some example: we may think that a good-looking and confident woman is also smarter, kinder, and funnier than less attractive people, or an attractive job applicant is seen as likable and more likely to be viewed as competent and qualified for the job. It is thought that this bias is due to our desire to be correct. If our initial impression of someone was positive, we want to look for proof that our assessment was accurate. It also helps people avoid experiencing cognitive dissonance, which involves holding contradictory beliefs. This bias is being used to advertise commercial products with attractive supermodels.
- Self-Serving Bias: the tendency for people to give themselves credit for successes they make, but lay the blame for failures on outside causes. For example: when you do well on a project, you probably assume that it’s because you worked hard. But when things turn out badly, you are more likely to blame it on circumstances or bad luck. This bias is closely linked to self-esteem, age, and culture.
- Availability Heuristic: the tendency to estimate the probability of something happening based on how many examples readily come to mind. Some examples: after watching the news of car thefts in the neighborhood, you then start to believe that such crimes are more common than they are; or that plane crashes are more common than they really are because you can easily think of several examples. This bias is basically a mental shortcut designed to save us time when we are trying to determine risk, resulting in overthinking and worrying.
- Optimism Bias: the tendency to overestimate the likelihood that good things will happen to us while underestimating the probability that negative events will impact our lives. Some examples: we may assume we will get salary increment or bonuses, and that we won't be sacked in our current job; or we tend not to wear seatbelts because we feel the accident won't happen any time soon. Why is this bias? Because we may have over-confidence, or think that bad things often occur to other people and it seems more likely that others will be affected by such bad events.
